The rain fury and its devastation in Kodagu district in Karnataka has left a major blot and needs years to recover from the shock. The aftermath of the devastation is really scary and people affected find no immediate answer about the future. However the trail of destruction has left hundreds of migrant labourers from Assam and Bengal high and dry as they have no where to look for help. These migrant labourers working in the coffee estates, pepper plantations and arecanut fields for more than ten years have been devastated as no one to own them. literally they have no place to go as many of the owners of the plantations are not coming forward to take ownership of their being. Many families are now living in ganji(gruel centres) Kendras set up by Karnataka government in and around Somavarpete and Madikeri.
An official who is supervising ganji kendras speaking on the condition of anonymity said these labourers have no identity and unless they get some sort of assurance from the owners of the land or other wise they will have to go back to their native place. However a worker from a village near Gauhati in Assam said his estate owner brought him to this centre and he does not know where to go with his family. He said “ we have been working here for the past ten years. We were struck by the landslip and lost everything. Our owner brought us here and left us. We don’t know what to do where to go.”
These families have lost everything and nowhere to go now. Once they are out of gruel centres where should they be rehabilitated. Government at this juncture has no answer but some of the NGOs and voluntary organisations are working out plans to re unite them with their estates but they are sceptical about many of them getting their jobs back.
Another worker who had recently returned from Assam along with his family after enrolling in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) says he has no option but to stay back. He said “What options do I haveij I don’t have any money. I want to stay and work here. What will I do at homeij”
But Deepak owner of Giridhari estate wants them to come back to rebuild his estate. He strongly feels these migrant workers to stay back and to be part of rebuilding exercise.
leo Saldanha of the Environment Support Group says the estate owners should take the responsibility of these labourers and wants government to draft a policy to save these people.
He said “ If we need them to labour in our fields and estates, and on our construction sites, in normal times, it’s absolutely inhuman to throw them to the streets when they are in distress due to floods. Karnataka and estate owners of Karnataka. It’s time to show some humanity”.
“Tata’s who have major stakes in coffee estates in Kodagu must set an example and recruit back these folks who will starve to death if they don’t get work to live”, he added.
“Officials have decided to pack them back to their states if plantation owners fail to come forward to take care of them. The workers are in a state of quandary since most plantation owners moved to Bengaluru and Mysuru to avoid the floods and have not contacted them,” he further added.
According to a State Government official, they are getting information about these migrant workers and trying to find their estate owner to help them to get back to workers. However it all depends on the damage the rain has caused and the affordability of the owners.
Kodagu is the smallest district of Karnataka on the slopes of Western Ghats. Kodagu's crop bearing area (of the total 1, 00,625 hectares) is put at 94,890 hectares. Robusta bearing area is 69,850 while that of Arabica is 25,040 hectares. There are 40,447 growers in the district whose holdings are below 10 hectares and 440 growers with holdings over 10 hectares.
Meanwhile in another major development the Karnataka Government has raised objections to Kasturi Rangan report which deals with the demarking of ecologically-sensitive areas (ESAs).The State Government has told the Centre, two days before the deadline to submit recommendations on demarcation of ecologically-sensitive areas (ESAs), that it disagrees with the K. Kasturirangan-led panel report.
The panel had suggested declaring 1,576 villages along the Western Ghats as ESA, which would heighten conservation measures as well as place restrictions on certain construction activities that involve landscape changes.
In his letter on August 16 to C.K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and climate change (MoEF&CC), Sandeep Dave, Additional Chief Secretary, Forest Ecology and Environment Department, has said that “after extensive public consultations”, it was decided to place their objection on record. This follows a meeting with MoEF&CC officials held on April 11, 2018.